[woolly bugger]

#55

65-70 mostly sunny

The field is full of Philadelphia daisies. If you are sensitive to grass and flower pollen you might want to stay away.





The fish were looking up, not a whole lot of risers, but a well-placed fly might bring a strike.



I was hoping things would pick up in the afternoon, but it was sporadic. Ended up swinging soft hackles. 



but the comparadun worked well too.




The water is as clear as I’ve ever seen it 4+ feet of visibility!

[woolly bugger]

#56

55 light rain, gas $3.96

I had the river to myself on a Saturday.

No visible hatches or risers, so it was a euro day.

Whacked 'em pretty good... mostly pune browns, and a good number of rainbows too.

There was a short-lived hatch around 4, the birds were working the water and a few fish rose. I gave it a go but couldn't make it happen and then the birds left, and I did too.

[woolly bugger]

#57

I left home late in the afternoon and headed to the closest and easiest access. An old guy was there sitting on his bucket, so I moved on up a ways.

I fished the close run and came up almost empty handed.



I fished the rest of that beat and caught nothing else. I quit and got a bite to eat and drove to the first spot and ate my dinner. The bait fisherman left, and three kids came as went swimming in the big pool. They were on the rocks at the tail out when I waded in.

I caught a stockbow on the first cast.



It was starting to get dark and it was difficult to see exactly where I was casting, but I managed to hook another fish, this time a brown. I finally got around to rebagging this net.



The kids swam back to shore and hollered at me asking if I had caught any. When I told them two, they stated that the other guy said he had only caught one in three hours.... Then they asked if my waders kept me warm as they were shivering in wet clothes while waiting for their ride to return.

It was too dark to see, so I waded out and headed home...

[woolly bugger]

#58

Temps in the 70s, gas - $3.94

I wanted to swing flies, I hadn't used the spey rod in a while and I just want to keep in practice. I went to a run which I think offers easy access and good potential for catching fish. My cast wasn't as good as I remembered, my timing was off, but I was getting good distance and a good swing with the fish taco. As I worked my way down into the tail where the water slowed I was expecting a take with every cast. But as the water got deeper and I was running out of freeboard on my waders my cast really fell apart and I became frustrated trying to correct the problem. After I while I changed tactics and switched rods.

The catching began on the Get-it-down-pat's rubber legs with about 50/50 brown to bow. After wearing out that run I moved on up into town for some urban fishing. This is the spot where, a long time ago, I met up with ODG3, Onthesurface and others after some event lost to memory, and where Ben (OTS) backed his Duraango into the trunk of the Miata. We all went to Papa's Pizza afterwards. Anyway, with the flow now at normal high, I went in continuing to nymph and caught a number of stockbows, but also noticed that there were fish rising to caddis, and maybe taking sulfurs too. So, after I got hung up and broke off I switched rods rather than rerig.

It wasn't exactly lights out fishing, but I caught a respectable number of browns on a cdc caddis. Then the water started to fall and I realized that they had tightened the spigot at the damn dam. The bugs and fish slowed down and I called it a day around 7:00.

[woolly bugger]

#59 Part Uno

I went down low.



As I was rigging up a TroutBro pulls up in his white Tacoma and we start talking, he's a young dude who has a passion for the lower river. He had been kayaking the other day and lost a good fish and was coming back to try again. We swapped some flies an Get it down pats, for a Pats rubber legs... his are heavier!  He let me choose which way to go since I had arrived first. I knew he was after a fish, so I let him have that beat.

One thing I didn't count on was the damn dam generation which bumped the flow up and the water was way off color anyway. Might have been a better day for streamers except for the bluebird skies. I nymphed up my water and caught a small rainbow (which may be wild)




I caught some chubs and a shiner but no other trouts. With the water up and off colored I moved on to another spot up river.

Worked the money run and caught nothing.

Finally after another move, I hooked into a decent SRB. I was in a awkward position to net this one, so only a crappy bottom of the net photo.



Then it was time to move to the upper river and see if the fish were feeding on caddis, and a slice of pizza was on my mind.

[woolly bugger]

#60, #61

gas $4.29

didn't take many photos at all this trip...
PFF v42

this thing started on the VFS bulletin board in 2000,

















photo by devinsdad


photo by devinsdad

[woolly bugger]

#62  70s Gas $4.29

Back to home waters. I needed a break, so I headed up in the late afternoon to see if I could catch a hatch.



I wasn't sure if I was going to have to nymph or not, but I saw a couple of fish rise in the run and that was enough for me to go dry.

Small sulfurs were floating down in the glare of the evening sun, and it was difficult to see the fly. I even crossed the river in hopes that it would be better. It wasn't.



First fish was a bow, and I was worried that was all I was going to catch. But all the rest were browns, small feisty and pretty.



For the next hour it was on, and many fish came to hand. It slowed down after an hour or so and I took a break.



Then, as the sun was down behind the ridge, the fish began to rise again. It never got stupid easy, but another dozen fish came to hand before it was over for the day.

[woolly bugger]

#63
86 Scattered clouds

R.I.P Bob Neuwirth

I pulled up to a usually deserted urban run where I’ve caught an evening hatch several times recently. I walked the high bank and not much was happening, so I grabbed a beer before gearing up while continuing to watch the water. I saw a couple of risers and concluded that it was going to turn on soon. Then I heard some splashing down below and to my surprise an angler was wading up the run casting a nymph rig. He moved so quickly only one drift before quickly taking a few more steps upstream. He was young and moved with agility in the fast deep water at the head of the run, which he covered the whole 40 yards in only a few minutes. He had caught nothing. Then he sat down on the bank and rerigged his flies. I wasn’t sure whether to move on or wait for him to clear this area. I waited and when he stood back up, he was flinging a streamer down and across. In five minutes, he disappeared downstream and by the time I geared up and got in the water he was nowhere to be seen.



It was good to see a youth out there; he was making do with some makeshift gear, needed a hat and a proper vest or sling bag and needed to slow down and study the water.

I waded into position, prepped my fly, and cast. Bam, a brown rose and took the sulfur puff daddy.



The hatch was sparce and the fish were picky, but I was catching enough that I didn’t think about relocating to another spot despite hearing about a better hatch upstream. I must have caught close to two dozen brown trout in three hours, they were small, 6 – 12 inches, but it was a terrific way to cool off in the evening.

[woolly bugger]

#64

91 and it ain't even June  -p-  Clear skies, UV index 11


Some of the nearby fields have been mowed, waiting for the MP to get cut, should be any day now

Went up close to the damn dam to cool off and see what the bug were doing. There were a smattering of sulfurs and a few spashy rises, they took an emerger. After an hour or so, I headed back to get some sunscreen and a drink. By the time I returned the hatch had dwindled almost nothing and I wasted an hour waiting for it to turn on again. I pulled out and headed down to a spot with bugs and  risers and fished until 7:30 as I was putting gear away, this run erupted with a dozen fish rising steadily. Maybe I'll stay later next time...

Stockbro was first to hand.



The rest were browns, but punes



They are everywhere now.




I don't care if they are small, brown trout on a dry fly is just plain fun.











hmmm, that wasn't there yesterday :o




It was 81 at 8:00 and my knees were still frozen and it took a while for me to warm back up.

[woolly bugger]

#65 92 - 67 —- scattered thunderstorms - Gas $4.36

I saw that Dougfish was down at the old spot — I couldn’t face walking through the mid-rib tall grass, so I took the alt route in.

After bushwhacking in I had to cool off so I waded out to above my waist and cast to the far run where I had spied a few trout rising. I caught one before heading on down the trail to find Dougfish. He was taking a beer break, so I joined him.



The bugs would come and go as did the rising trout — I caught a number of small fish— missed a couple of better ones. It turned on madly for a bit and a few better trout were seen and caught.

The skies clouded up and the temp dropped dramatically — we fished on.




When things slacked off again, we took another beer break and contemplated the approaching weather. When the sky darkened, and the wind picked up we bailed.

[woolly bugger]

#66 gas $5.49 (non-ethanol) 60 - 80 degrees and sunny

That's a long way to go to catch a few punes....

The wheels were going to turn on a 2, so instead of starting out on top and moving down low (which was probably a better idea) I started low. There were only a few anglers and plenty of open water. There was nothing coming off the water and I didn't see any rises.

I thought I had figured out the euro game, but all I caught were pune rainbows and I found the bottom too many times and lost a bunch of flies.

A Jon boat with three fisherpeople made an effort to go behind me, which was mighty kind as one guy donned a pair on waders just to shove the boat through a rock garden.

When I cast and watched the flies drift and get sucked under yet another rock and hopelessly snagged, I moved on to friendlier water.

I caught more pune rainbows.

After a couple of hours of this I noticed that trout were sporadically sipping emergers. I hiked back to the car to switch rods.

I recently washed, treated, and repaired the welded loop on the 5 wt. line. I had acquired an Airflow floating polyleader and wanted to try it. I managed to entice a few of the sipping brown trout before a group of kayakers barreled through and interrupted. I drank a beer and waited, but then a couple of girls took an inflatable out into the run and paddled up and down and all around. I moved on. Back at the car I ran into an angler from CLT who also had a very slow day.

[woolly bugger]

#67 Gas $4.65

hot and humid with extreme UV-11


Dougfish gave me the heads up on the reduced flow and the status of the field. I couldn't fathom walking through that tall grass in the heat of the day. So, I settled for some downtown browns. I took a look/see at one location and nothing was happening, next I checked out a boat ramp and spotted birds working and few trout rising. I buffed up and briefly thought about wet wading. I managed to catch a couple of decent browns before the hatch petered out and I moved on to another location.

Sulfurs and caddis in sparse numbers were observed and I saw several fish rise. They showed some interest in my fly but wouldn't commit. I managed to bring a few to hand and had one good fish on the line for a bit. The fish turned and took the fly but I had too much slack in the line to get a good hookset and when the fish ran upstream all was lost.

I switched to a partridge and orange and began whacking the punes on the swing.



Most of the fish were in the 7 - 10 inch range.





By 6:45 things began to slow down and I had had enough...